


The Answer

by RandyPandy



Series: Heirs of Legend [7]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chrom!Inigo, Fates occurs before the other FEs, Gen, Invisible Kingdom | Revelation Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23390434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandyPandy/pseuds/RandyPandy
Summary: Xander has a lot of questions for his retainer. Thankfully, Laslow gives him some answers.
Relationships: Lazward | Laslow & Marx | Xander
Series: Heirs of Legend [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545451
Comments: 12
Kudos: 75





	The Answer

**Author's Note:**

> Part 7 of Heirs of Legend that I had to write. Featuring Laslow again as well as Xander because I am biased towards Laslow.
> 
> How’s everyone doing with everything going on? I work in a research laboratory, so my position is considered “essential” at the moment – in other words, I am still going into work everyday despite everything else being locked down. However, I have managed to sneak some time in to write, and I’ve managed to finish this oneshot.

Xander simply watched as Laslow shuffled nervously.

After Anankos had been defeated (through sheer dumb _luck_ given that nobody had previously known that Laslow had been capable of performing the Vallite song), he had run for Laslow, intending to ensure that his retainer had not been wounded by Anankos or Vallites or subject to the curse.

Thankfully, Laslow had seemed fine, if but a little tired, but he had also noted that Laslow’s appearance had completely changed.

He’d found that his retainer looked different. No longer did Laslow have his dusty grey hair, but a deep, rich blue that he had never seen in his life. In addition, a strange marking had appeared in his retainer’s eye, a symbol that he couldn’t recognize. A quick glance around showed that Odin and Selena had also changed their appearances, though not as dramatically as Laslow.

Therefore, as soon as they had set up their camp so that they could rest before heading back to Hoshido and Nohr, he had grabbed Laslow and had pulled him into his own tent – and judging from the sounds he had heard, Odin and Selena had _also_ been pulled aside.

Numerous questions were swirling through Xander’s mind: the first was _who_ exactly Laslow was. The man had always been fairly tight-lipped about his past, and the most that Xander had been able to get out of him was that his country’s royal family had some kind of birth mark.

(In the eye, Xander remembered Laslow specifically saying. And right now, Laslow had a strange mark in _his_ eye.)

“Explain, Laslow,” he ordered.

His retainer swallowed. “Milord, I’m… I’m not sure where exactly I should begin to explain this.”

Xander frowned at him. He supposed it _would_ be odd to explain no matter what the explanation was. “The beginning is a good place to start,” Xander said. “And I have already started drawing my own conclusions, so if you don’t want me to keep them, you should start explaining now.”

Laslow winced, but nodded. “Yes, milord. Please… please give me a moment to collect my thoughts.”

That was acceptable. As he allowed Laslow the moment he had asked for, Xander ruminated. The most logical conclusion that he could think of, as it was evident that Laslow was related to both himself (as he could wield Siegfried) and to Azura (as he could perform the magical song and dance to pacify Anankos), was that he was King Garon and Queen Arete’s son.

He _did_ appear to be about the right age… Laslow was several years younger than Azura. It was plausible that Garon had had another child with Arete (one with blue hair, nonetheless). And after Arete’s death and Azura’s kidnapping, Laslow could’ve fallen victim to the concubine wars and had ended up in the streets of Nohr (unlikely, as Laslow claimed to be foreign, but some of his mannerisms suggested that he had been poor at one point) or had been taken away from Nohr and had ended up in the country that he had grown up in (more likely; Odin could still be a relative from another concubine, and Selena… well, she had always looked of Hoshidan descendant to him, but it didn’t explain the mark the Laslow’s eye).

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Xander looked back down at Laslow, who seemed to have settled into what he wanted to say. He wouldn’t know the truth until the other explained everything. “Well?”

“Y-Yes…The first thing I suppose that I should tell you is that Selena, Odin, and I are from a country called Ylisse. It is where we grew up,” Laslow started slowly.

“Ylisse?” Xander frowned. He had never heard of such a land. “I’m afraid I don’t know where that is.”

Laslow smiled weakly, and Xander had a feeling that his retainer was about to release a dragon into the room. “I would be surprised if any of you had even heard of it, given that it won’t exist for another few thousand years.”

Silence.

 _“What?_ ”

“I am telling the truth, milord. I swear.”

“If it doesn’t exist for another few thousand years, then how did you grow up there—no,” Xander frowned, clasping his hands behind his back. “How did you _get here_?”

“One of the powers that Anankos had was the power of time travel,” Laslow said quietly. “And his Heart had the same powers. To escape the Vallites that were set upon him by his dragon self, the Heart leapt through time, where he encountered the three of us. He pleaded with us to help him deal with the situation, and while we had no idea what was going on at the time, we fought off the Vallites chasing him and agreed to his request.

“He took the three of us to Valla so that he could explain everything, and then asked us to find Corrin and to help Corrin kill his dragon self. Unfortunately, while we were there, we were besieged. He was killed, and it took the three of us everything that we had to escape. We headed for Nohr after that, and, well… you know what happened after that.”

He did. After Laslow had ended up in Nohr, he had joined the tournament, won, and had battled with him for the right to be his retainer. They had tied, despite Xander using Siegfried against an ordinary sword, and Laslow had sworn his service to him, and Xander had just _known_ that Laslow would be loyal.

This certainly explained why no one had been able to find any information on the three of them – not even Niles, who was renowned amongst the Nohrian Court for information gathering. However…

“That doesn’t explain you can use Siegfried and why you knew the Vallite Song,” Xander told him. Laslow nodded.

“We’re from a few thousand years in the future, Lord Xander,” Laslow pointed out. “That far in time, isn’t it likely that the royal blood from the current royal families continued? I’m Siegfried’s wielder in my time. Same with Odin and Selena for Brynhildr and Fujin Yumi.”

“That would make the three of you royalty of Nohr and Hoshido,” Xander said, his mind trying to wrap his head around the fact. Laslow had always been strange, and Xander could easily accept this as something _else_ that was strange about him. But this was what he was having the most trouble reconciling. “You would be a Prince of Nohr.”

“I _am_ a Prince, milord,” Laslow chuckled. “At least, Odin and I still are, back in our home time. But not of Nohr and Hoshido. I’m a Prince of Ylisse. Odin is a Prince of Plegia foremost, but a Prince of Ylisse second. We _are_ cousins, after all. Selena isn’t related to any of the current royal families in our time as far as we know.”

“And Siegfried was eventually passed down to you, then?” Xander asked. That had to be where Laslow had gotten it, right?

“No, milord, I _bought_ Siegfried when I stumbled across it in an Anna’s shop,” Laslow said sheepishly. “I don’t know how it arrived there; I simply wanted a nice souvenir.” Well, some things didn’t change. “But something about it drew my attention. As if it was _calling_ me. And then when I touched it, it accepted me almost instantly, so that puzzled me at the time, but after I came here... That’s how I knew I could use it earlier.”

“And the Vallite song?” Xander pressed.

Laslow bit his lip. “As for the song, I didn’t know about it until I realized that Azura’s song and dance are the exact same one that had been passed down my mother’s family line for generations. Something had to have happened to the pendant by our time, because Mother never gave it to me, but I still learned the song and the full dance.”

“…So this makes you a descendant of myself and Azura,” Xander said slowly. He had been correct about the fact that Laslow was his relative, but wrong in the how. Laslow was his _distant_ _descendant_. And he had come back in time to help save Nohr and Hoshido from the threat of Anankos.

Xander wanted to hug him very, very tightly.

This time, Laslow shrugged. “Well, as far as the evidence goes, yes. For Lady Azura, I have to be related through my mother at least. I’m unsure which side is related to you, milord. All I know is that I have three different types of dragon blood running through my veins, and that I recognized Siegfried the moment that I saw it.”

“Three?” Xander raised his eyebrows. “The Dusk Dragon through myself and Anankos through Azura, yes, but the third?”

“It’s not a dragon you are aware of, milord,” Laslow shook his head. “My father’s side was related to a Divine Dragon known as Naga. The mark in my eye belongs to her. Like all Divine Dragons, she marks her descendants.”

Like Izana. Interesting, but definitely unimportant compared to the fact that _Laslow was his descendant_.

Xander… wasn’t sure what he felt as he gazed down at Laslow. The younger man had a firm posture, his eyes determined and pleading. Laslow was _certainly_ holding himself differently now that the secret had been revealed. And he could see it, too. While he wasn’t sure if it was the other’s upbringing (Laslow claimed that he was still related to his time period’s royal family, after all) or just their nature, there was no doubt about it.

His ridiculous, flirtatious, competent, intelligent, _shy_ retainer was his _descendant_. A chosen wielder of Siegfried. Honestly, other than perhaps his siblings and children, there would be no one that Xander would have rather passed Siegfried to. He had always cared deeply for Laslow.

A stray thought came to mind as to whether Laslow’s shyness had come from him, and whether his flirtatious tendencies had come from his father, but he pushed the thought out of his mind as Laslow spoke again.

“I apologize for keeping my identity in the dark all of these years, milord,” Laslow said softly to him, tearing his gaze away from Xander’s. “But it was necessary. I… I wasn’t sure what would happen if I told you who I really was.” He swallowed again. “I wasn’t sure how you would take it – how _any_ of you would take it. And with… the way your father was… if he knew that the Heart had brought me here…”

Laslow’s life would have been forfeit, Xander realized. His descendant had come back in time to save him and the rest of Nohr and Hoshido, from _Anankos_. His father had been a puppet of Anankos the whole time, and if he had ever gotten an inkling of who Laslow as…

tugging the younger man into his arms and holding him close. He’d always felt close to him, from the moment that he had seen him – despite how much he had protested when his father had assigned Laslow as his retainer, he hadn’t truly been disappointed.

Everything made sense, he decided, as he rested his hand on Laslow’s fluffy head. The way Laslow had _known_ how to counter Siegfried when they had dueled that first time. Laslow had known how to counter it because he was its _wielder_. Laslow questioning him whether he would be upset if he ‘went somewhere far away where he couldn’t follow’. If Laslow traveled back to his own time, then Xander certainly had no way to follow (was Laslow even _able_ to go back?).

Xander pulled back from the hug and took both of Laslow’s hands in his own. Laslow blinked down at them, but then looked back up into Xander’s eyes again.

“Laslow,” he finally said, squeezing Laslow’s hands affectionately. “I do not know what your plans are now that this war is over, or whether you plan to go home. But I will say this: as my descendant, my retainer, but most of all, my _friend_ , you will always have a home in Nohr if you so desire, Laslow. And this time, there would be no need to keep your royal lineage hidden.”

“Inigo,” Laslow corrected, relief in his tone. “My true name is Inigo, milord, and no matter where I am, I will always be your eternal servant and companion.”

**Author's Note:**

> Point of note: If Inigo chose to stay in Nohr, Xander eventually passed Inigo off as a long-lost half-sibling through Arete to explain his powers. Whether that happened or not, I won’t admit, but it’s an interesting thing to think about.
> 
> Maybe I’ll write Odin and Severa’s confessions. Not a guarantee, even though I want to, it took me forever to come up with ANY of the confessions. Selena’s will definitely be waaay more complicated.


End file.
